Bird on a Wire
by maevelin
Summary: For ten years Caroline Forbes thought Klaus Mikaelson was dead. When she accidentally discovers he has been alive for all this time, she ends up on the run with him. Now with his old drug lord enemies hunting them down, their lives hang in the balance. What more could possibly go wrong? AU/AH Klaroline on the run [Inspired from the movie "Bird on a Wire"].
1. Prologue : Bird on a wire

**Summary: **

For ten years Caroline Forbes thought Klaus Mikaelson was dead. When she accidentally discovers he has been alive for all this time, she ends up on the run with him. Now with his old drug lord enemies hunting them down, their lives hang in the balance. What more could possibly go wrong? AU/AH _ Klaroline on the run

[Inspired from the movie "Bird on a Wire"].**  
><strong>

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><p>Edited by Anastasia Dreams<p>

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><p><strong>Disclaimer: I own nothing.<strong>

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><p><strong>.<strong>

**.**

**Prologue : Bird on a wire**

**.**

**.**

**Present day.**

**United States Penitentiary, Atlanta.**

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The asphalt and winter sky were all blurring into one foggy sight as Marcel Gerald stepped harder on the gas pedal. The rain was hitting against his car's windshield when he abruptly turned his wheel to the right and entered the iron gates.

He turned off his ignition and waited.

After some time, the guard opened the penitentiary's metal door.

Damon Salvatore stepped out, put on his leather jacket and casually walked down the stairs, the door closing behind him.

The raven haired Salvatore smirked, walking through the rain before he stopped and turned around, facing the jail that kept him confined for all these years.

Marcel laughed when Damon Salvatore raised his hand and gave the middle finger to the prison he so much loathed. He then turned around again and walked down the rest of the stairs as if he danced. He raised his hands in the air and cockily bowed down slightly when his victorious march reached the last step causing more mirth to Marcel.

Damon ran towards the parked vehicle and quickly got into the car, his body dripping wet, his blue eyes harder than ever.

"My good brother," Marcel greeted Damon with a big smile that showed his shiny white teeth and Damon nodded with a smirk.

"That's it? No suitcase?"

"Let's just get out of here," Damon simply said as he took out his cigarettes from his back pocket.

"Don't smoke in the car," Marcel ordered with a curt voice, causing Damon to roll his eyes and sigh in exasperation.

It wasn't long after before the car sped away from the jail.

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><p><em><strong>12 years ago. <strong>_

_**New Orleans.**_

_._

_._

_Caroline and Kol laughed; she pointed her finger to the lights that were coming from one of the cruise ships in the dock of the Port of New Orleans that was far away in the horizon. _

_The noise from the ground meters beneath them blended with the sound of the wind and the lights that reflected on the waters across the funfair seemed to make Caroline excited in a childish manner. And it was contagious. Kol was enjoying himself along with her and they were both joking like little kids as they kept stealing each other's popcorn. _

_The Ferris wheel was turning, the wind was rocking their cabin and the air was sweeping Caroline's blond hair away. Kol jested as always and Klaus could not take his eyes away from her. He was seated opposite to them. If it were up to him, he would have sat next to Caroline, but as always Kol wanted to provoke him. Kol ran and sat next to Caroline earning a growl from Klaus and the beautiful sound of Caroline's laughter._

_He could not explain it but he could not take it anymore. He could not be next to her like this and not be able to touch her, to kiss her, to get lost in her warmth. Every little thing she did mesmerized him. Every annoying habit of hers seemed adorable to him and he could not last one more day without being able to tell her how he felt. He wanted to be with her, to make love to her. He would go insane if one more day passed without Caroline Forbes being his. Without him being hers._

_Suddenly and before he could stop himself he blurted out., "Go out with me."_

_Caroline's eyes widened. She stopped talking all together which never happened and she froze. He could see that she could not take her eyes off him either as if she was trying to understand if she had heard him right or if he was even serious. _

_He didn't avert his eyes, he didn't dare to speak or even breathe. All he could do was wait for her answer. Kol was watching them and he was pressing his lips in an effort to not burst out laughing._

_Truth to be told if he wasn't in such a desperate need to hear her answer the sight of her would be comical. Her mouth was stuffed with popcorn, her eyes seemed ready to budge out of their sockets. She was still pointing towards the nightly se,a her stretched hand suspended in mid air, still pointing towards the shiny lights of the port._

_She gulped down the food in her mouth clumsily and dropped her popcorn on Kol._

"_What?" she whispered._

_Kol. as always, rolled his eyes at them amused. The tension between him and Caroline had been building up for months. Everyone could see it. Hell, he could see it! Always flirting with each other, always driving each other mad, always one step away but never actually giving in. _

_Until now. Klaus breathed in._

"_Go out with me!" he asked her again. This time with a more certain voice, his bravado surfacing again._

"_Like you and me, out, as in…together?" she mumbled and that was finally enough to make Kol burst out laughing pointing towards Klaus and Caroline as if they were the most hilarious sight in the world._

_Caroline ignored Kol and his antics and pressed her lips._

"_Are you asking me out on a date?" she insisted and Klaus nodded eagerly. _

_Her face lit up, her lips curling into a smile that made Klaus's face light up too. The hope and joy in her eyes was enough to cause joy to swell inside his chest._

_Caroline hit Kol to the stomach with her elbow to make him stop laughing but didn't take her eyes of him._

"_What do you say love?" he pressed and she bit her bottom lip teasingly._

"_I'll think about it," she joked and Klaus narrowed his eyes at her._

"_That is not an answer!" Klaus all but growled._

"_That is not a way to ask me out you ass!" Caroline said and stubbornly crossed her hands over her chest._

"_Why?" Klaus asked feeling lost._

"_After all this time you had to wait until we were 30 meters up from the ground?" she huffed with exasperation._

_Klaus rolled his eyes at her, noticing for the first time how heights seemed to unnerve her a bit._

"_Yes or no sweetheart?" he bit out, his eyes only on her!_

"_With your brother next to us!" Caroline continued._

"_Will you go out with me?" Klaus asked again this time showing how annoyed he was getting._

"_And you made me pay for the tickets!" Caroline yelled at him and Kol shook his head with laughter._

"_You lost the bet!" Klaus threw at her._

"_You cheated!" she accused him and Kol nodded playfully._

"_You can't prove it!" Klaus proudly claimed._

"_It doesn't make it any less true!" Caroline shouted this time gesturing wildly._

"_Uhm guys you were still in the middle of something remember…a date proposal?" Kol intervened earning a death glare from Klaus and Caroline before he raised his hands in mock surrender._

"_Caroline," Klaus growled impatiently._

"_I…"_

"_Come on darling he will be impossible if you say no," Kol joked before she could answer._

"_Kol!" Klaus spat._

"_What? You will be!" Kol said with a shrug._

"_Shut up Kol!" Klaus threatened him with one of his most angry gazes. _

"_It is not as if Caroline will say no anyway," Kol said with a roll of his eyes._

"_Kol!" Caroline cried and hit him in the shoulder._

"_What? You won't!" Kol said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, which caused Klaus to smirk._

"_Shut u,p Kol!" Caroline yelled, her cheeks going red and Klaus' smirk growing wider._

"_Admit it, sweetheart, even my dimwit brother is on to you," Klaus proudly taunted her._

_Caroline raised her eyebrow. _

"_On to me?" her voice impassive._

"_You are dying to go out with me!" Klaus played with her._

"_Really?" Caroline asked with narrowed eyes that betrayed her annoyance._

_Klaus started realizing that he was messing up. Big time. Caroline stubbornness had no equal and he would not accept a no for an answer either._

"_Come on love, go out with me," he pled with her using his most adorable expression._

_Caroline almost smiled at that and Klaus used his boyish smile on her._

"_Take a chance Caroline, I dare you!" he challenged her again this time with a husky voice, which had Kol gagging._

_Caroline smiled at Klaus and leaned over so she could reach him. Klaus leaned over too, their lips an inch from touching._

"_No!" Caroline innocently said before she sat back on her seat. _

_Klaus breathed in trying to control his temper and his disappointment. Kol's mocking gaze wasn't helping._

"_No?" Klaus pressed._

"_No!" Caroline said again with a wide smile._

"_I will ask you only once more, Caroline!" Klaus warned._

"_Tough!" she mocked him._

_Klaus smiled at her. His expression wolfish this time._

"_Oh no," Kol mumbled underneath his breath. _

"_As you wish love!"_

_With that Klaus got up, making their cabin swaying dangerously to the air, Caroline's eyes widening. _

_Caroline yelped as Klaus opened the door of their pod and even Kol closed his eyes in defeat and grabbed the edge of his seat._

"_Bloody hell Nik!"_

"_Klaus! What are you doing?" Caroline shrieked._

_Klaus smirked and pressed his foot on the edge of the open door. Underneath him the distance from the ground was long, so long that everything beneath seemed smaller. He stretched and grabbed the rail that was holding their cabin and swung on the air before her jumped on the wheel's rim. Caroline had tried to grab his feet, constantly yelling at him, but she was not fast enough. Not even Kol was able to stop him, even though he seemed to be more amused than afraid. _

_Klaus started climbing upwards, Caroline screaming at him to get down. He reached the very top of the wheel, got up and balanced on the iron ledge. He stretched his hands in the air, the wind blowing against his body and face and he started walking opposite to the direction the wheel was turning trying to maintain his balance. Beneath his moving feet the world seemed to be far away from where he was standing. He could see each cabin moving towards him, just some meters away from where he was. Strangers pointed their fingers at him and Caroline's shrilling could be heard from miles._

_Soon enough Caroline's cabin was approaching._

"_Klaus get down from there!" she screamed at him._

"_Nik get down!" Kol yelled at him also._

"_You are freaking me out!" Caroline screamed again, her hair falling in front of her face, her eyes filled with worry as she hung half of her body outside the cabin._

"_Will you go out with me Caroline?"_

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><p><strong>Present day.<strong>

**New York Palace Hotel.**

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.

"Afternoon, Miss Forbes. Welcome," the waiter of the four star restaurant on the top floor of the grand hotel greeted her.

Caroline smiled graciously as she walked passed him with confidence.

"Hello," she kindly responded, her eyes inspecting the place looking for the two businessmen she was about to meet.

"Shall I take your coat, Miss?" the man offered as Caroline walked towards her table.

"No, thanks. I'm not staying," she said in a rush.

Caroline approached the table in which she had spotted the people she was meeting, the waiter moving the chair she was about to sit for her comfort.

"Richard, Logan," she greeted the two man on the table quickly removing her cashmere coat. "Sorry I can't stay for long," she said in a dismissive tone. The two men nodded somewhat uncomfortably.

"I have a board meeting in Detroit," she announced with a wave of her hand, "this won't take long anyway."

The waiter came with the menu and Caroline barely noticed him.

"Nothing for me," she said hurriedly.

The waiter nodded and was about to leave when Caroline stopped him with a gentle pat on his hand.

"No, maybe I'll have a diet Coke," she said and the waiter smiled at her ready to leave with her order before Caroline stopped him again.

"Make that Evian water, please," she said changing her mind and the waiter nodded before she shook her head and stopped him again, the two men in the table watching her with raised eyebrows.

"I'll actually have San Pellegrino water. No lemon. No ice," she finally ordered and the waiter left.

Caroline turned her attention to the men on the table, her face changing into one of confidence once again.

She crossed her hands over the table and even though it was not a sign of good manners she rested her elbows on the wooden surface in order to draw all the attention to her.

"Here's the deal. There's no deal. My client balked," she added with a faux sorrowful gaze.

"What do you mean?" Richard bit out.

"I tried to sell it to her, she wouldn't go for it. She thinks her company's worth more." Caroline used her gentle diplomatic tone.

Logan rolled his eyes, annoyance coming off him in waves.

"She thinks or you think?" he accused her.

Caroline's gazed turned bored. She watched one of the waiters coming next to her carrying one plate filled with food.

She stopped the man and leaned over the plate with interest.

"On a second thought, that looks interesting!" she exclaimed looking at the plate the waiter was showing off to her.

"Just tell us what you want Caroline," Logan gave in with a pleading voice, "and please don't say-"

"Smoked duck?" Caroline interrupted him with a raised challenging eyebrow.

Both men inhaled sharply and she smiled at them innocently.

"I've got to make a phone call," Caroline said with a sweet smile, pushing her chair back.

Logan ran his hand through his hair. He knew Caroline's from law school. She was always top of the class, always getting what she wanted. He envied her, yes, but he would rather have her at his side than having her against him.

"It's just us here. What are you looking for?" Logan tried again this time with a more consolatory tone.

Caroline smirked and leaned over the table so her gaze could be locked upon his.

"Well, world peace for starters. But that aside, I am also looking for a world of fair play, where corporate big guys like you and your friend here, don't always get their way" she threw at him without raising her voice or losing her air of confidence.

"Still beating up on your ex-husband?" Logan couldn't help himself.

Caroline raised an elegant eyebrow at him.

"Oh, you're so gonna pay for that one," she simply said with a wide smile and turned around and left without looking back.

Logan blanched and leaned back to his chair throwing his napkin on the table.

"Who's her husband?" Richard asked confused.

"Me and my big mouth," Logan huffed in defeat.

Caroline crossed her legs, sitting comfortably on one of the stools of the bar waiting for her Vodka to arrive.

She took her phone from her purse and called her fiancé.

"Hey gorgeous," Enzo's excited voice reached her ears.

Caroline rolled her eyes. She nodded to the bartender for bringing her drink and she gulped down one long sip welcoming the burning feeling on her throat.

"Don't call me that," she grumbled. She hated nicknames. Ever since she could no longer hear those that caused her heart to beat faster and butterflies to gather in her stomach.

She wouldn't have them now. They annoyed her. Every time someone would try to call her something else other than Caroline she would feel her blood boil. And somewhere in the back of her head she would hear a faint male voice with a stupid arrogant, _certain British accent,_ calling her _sweetheart_ and her heart would always ache.

"Sorry," Enzo said immediately, "I just meant to be affectionate," he said and she could hear all the buzzing from his workplace.

"Mmm," Caroline whispered. She closed her eyes and pressed the pinched the bridge of her nose.

"What's the matter?"

Caroline smiled at Enzo's worry.

"Nothing. I'm just in a meeting and I don't have a lot of time," she said tiredly.

She then smiled as she gulped down the rest of her Vodka.

"Remember when you said you wanted to have sex with me in a weird place?" she teased him, "How about Detroit?"

"Too kinky," Enzo laughed, "anyway, my office is installing the new computer programs these days and I have that presentation in Denver next week."

Caroline pouted.

"What will I do by myself in Detroit?" she nagged.

"Use my credit card, prove you are already my wife in Louboutin's eyes," he said and Caroline laughed.

"I don't love you and I don't miss you," she sweetly said to him.

"Yeah sure, just call me when you get there," Enzo told her and hung up.

"Bye," she whispered to the dead line.

She took a deep breath and checked her clock. She sighed and ordered another drink.

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><p><strong>Atlantic city. New Jersey.<strong>

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Marcel drove his Maserati towards the entrance of the mansion, noticing all the guards that were placed in strategic posts all around the estate.

The gardens were filled with little children and clowns. Laughter, voices and dancing were echoing around from the party.

Damon lowered his window.

"Mr. Gerald and Mr. Salvatore," Damon said to the guard in the gate. The armed man checked his list and nodded before talking to another guard from his intercom device to open the iron gate.

"Mr. Gerald, Mr. Salvatore, go right in. Enjoy the party," the guard said politely. Damon nodded and Marcel drove the car into the pavement in the front yard.

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><p>Two hours later Damon was standing on the balcony of the mansion watching the kids playing around the birthday cake waiting for the birthday boy to come and blow his candles.<p>

He looked towards the glass doors on the other side and noticed how Marcel talked with the owner of the house inside the extravagant living room. Marcel was listening and nodding with respect before he exchanged a handshake with the old man and came outside escorted by two men.

Marcel pointed towards the exit and Damon followed him impatiently.

"What happened?" Damon asked as they stepped down the marble stairs, "Did they go for it? They'd be crazy not to," Damon pressed.

Marcel shook his head negatively and crossed his hands behind his back.

"What do these Colombians want?" Damon spat, "It's foolproof! We got all the customs agents, the border guards. Everything's in place!"

Marcel stopped walking and watched him with a sharp gaze.

"We've got a little problem," he said with an eerie tone. "A cloud over us," he added with a dark voice as he took his sunglasses out of the pocket of his Armani jacket and put them on. "The cartel's made an offer of $50 million. It will be on the table for 30 days _if _we can make this little problem go away," Marcel said taking a deep breath.

Damon swore and gritted his teeth.

"Klaus," he spat the name as if it was a curse that was polluting him, "they know about that Mikaelson prick, don't they?"

Marcel put his hands inside the pockets of his pants.

"It's time to finish it, we've got to find him and take him out," Marcel said.

Damon pressed his lips. "Easier said than done," he said with a frown.

"We'll do it ourselves this time. Make sure it gets done right," Marcel said after some moments of silence.

Both men kept walking towards the parked car before Marcel stopped walking and looked towards the sky.

"Lovely day," he said, "But we have a little cloud to blow away."

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><p><strong>AN:**

***** So this is the first chapter of the story. However here are some warnings. This story is nothing more than me relaxing and having fun. There is no intricate writing or plot. It is more or less a very simplistic story.

The storyline and most of the dialogue are taken from the movie "Bird on a wire" with Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn.

When I saw this movie in Christmas all I could think of was how great it would be if Klaus/Joseph Morgan and Caroline/Candice Accola were the main characters. So here is me basically making my fantasy come to life sort of speak.

***** Happy Klaroline Week everyone!


	2. Like a bird on the wire

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing

_Edited by **Anastasia Dreams**_

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><p>.<p>

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_**Chapter one: **_

Like a bird on the wire

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_**10 years ago. **_

_**New Orleans.**_

_._

_._

_Kol downed his drink in one go and coughed when it scratched his throat._

"_It's a stupid idea Nik and you know that coming from me says a lot!" he said with a hoarse voice and took the almost empty scotch bottle in front of him and refilled his glass._

_Klaus watched the drink he had between his hands but didn't move the glass from the table. The pub was filled with people and he could not hear anything aside from the voices inside his head telling him what Kol was saying._

_This was a bad idea._

"_I know," he admitted._

_Kol let the bottle down on the table with a thud. The glass Klaus held shook and some drops from the alcohol splattered over his hands._

"_Then why are we even talking about this. You have everything you ever wanted, just settle down already." Kol tried to make him see reason. _

_Klaus pushed his glass back and grimaced. _

"_I am doing it for Caroline. She wants to go to law school but her father will never give her the money as long as she is with me; that is why she took that second job as a bartender and even like that is not enough and I-"_

"_You what?" Kol pressed with concern this time._

"_I want to offer her everything she deserves. I don't want her to be miserable with me," Klaus admitted with a whisper before he drank his shot. His insecurities and the need to offer the world to Caroline were closing up on him._

_Kol rolled his eyes and huffed._

"_How come I am the one with the looks and the brains in this family? Caroline just wants you, you moron!" Kol all but yelled to his brother. _

_Usually, these conversations were with reversed roles. Usually, it was Klaus that was trying to convince Kol not do something stupid and most of the times failing to do so. But now, it was Kol that had taken up the role of the logical brother. However, from the looks of it he wasn't doing such a good job either._

"_Last job, Kol," Klaus said with a definite tone._

_Kol looked at Klaus intently and then closed his eyes in defeat._

"_Caroline's going to kill us. I am in," he said._

"_You don't have to do this," Klaus said and shook his head but Kol rolled his eyes again._

"_Yeah, yeah, but I will anyway," his young brother said._

_Klaus looked at him with a somber look and nodded._

_Just as Kol was about to order for a second bottle Klaus grabbed his hand with urgency._

"_Caroline must never find out. At least not before it is too late and we are set to leave," Klaus told Kol solemnly._

_Kol removed his hand and ordered for the second bottle and then turned his attention to Klaus._

"_She will have your balls for this Nik! Well, more than she already has that is!"_

"_Promise me, brother," Klaus insisted knowing that if Caroline were to know what he was planning she would definitely stop him; and if there was one person in this world that could stop Klaus Mikaelson from doing something that was Caroline Forbes._

_Kol sighed but agreed nonetheless._

"_I promise."_

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><p><strong>Present day.<strong>

**Detroit.**

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Marvin went into the garage of his auto repair shop and took off his wet jacket with a shudder. It was raining cats and dogs outside.

The old man coughed and went closer to the suspended car in the deep end of the workshop.

His latest employee was working underneath it. He, as usual, was working on the portable low table repairing cars for hours at a time. As if getting tired was never an issue for that man. Ah. Youth!

"Closing down, Billy Ray," Marvin said with a tired voice, "nobody driving in this bad weather tonight."

Billy Ray didn't answer and Marvin went closer to the car where only Billy Ray's legs were visible underneath the old car.

"Why don't you give up on that tank, come on over to the house for dinner?" he suggested and sighed when the man kept working on the car without answering.

"It's no good you being alone so much. Been in town three months, you haven't made one friend. At least none that I've seen," Marvin kept on talking and sighed when Billy Ray didn't say anything in return. That boy was far too lonely for his own good.

"Why don't you wash up and come and meet my old ball and chain tonight?" he suggested and then huffed.

"Are you even hearing me? I'm gonna turn down this blasted radio," he said and went next to the radio and turn it off.

He then noticed that no sounds were coming from underneath the car now. Usually, Billy Ray's tools were making quite the noise.

"You've gone to sleep under there?" he half yelled before the metal rail that kept the car elevated gave out from all the weight and broke with a thud.

Marvin jumped back when the car came crashing down on Billy Ray and his eyes almost fell out of their sockets when he heard the boy's scream!

Half of Billy Ray's body was trapped underneath the fallen car and his legs were moving erratically.

"God! Help me, Marvin!" Billy Ray yelled.

Marvin ran towards the car and tried to move it, or somewhat lift it.

"Help me! Pull me out!" Billy Ray kept yelling and Marvin kept trying, but the car was unmovable. It was too heavy.

"Get me out of here!" Billy Ray kept begging.

"Hold on!" Marvin said and tried to move the lever of the machine that lifted the car in order to push it up again even a little in order to get Billy Ray out.

"Help me!" Billy Ray kept on shouting.

The lever broke in Marvin's hands. The old man cursed.

"Get me out!" the trapped mechanic yelled desperately.

"Goddamn it!" Marvin shouted and knelt down and grabbed the boy's legs.

"Get this off of me!" Billy Ray screamed and Marvin pulled the kid's legs out with desperation.

He pulled with all his strength in hope to pull Billy Ray out of the metallic trap but instead of that he heard a crack and he fell backwards on the boxes with the car cables.

He blinked and noticed that he was holding half of the body of a…dummy!

It was a freaking mannequin doll, dressed as a man and it had broken in his hands when he pushed it out of the car. He was now holding the broken legs.

Billy Ray got up from behind the car where he was hidden all this time and he was now laughing maniacally and holding the two strings which he used to make his puppet's legs move from underneath the car all this time!

That idiot had staged the whole thing! It was a prank and now he was bent over the car's hood and crying from laugher.

"What am I gonna do with no legs?" the insolent prick laughed with almost no breath now.

"Look at you!" Billy Ray laughed more as he pointed his shaking finger towards Marvin who looked dumbfounded.

"Something wrong with your brain?" Marvin asked incredulously.

Billy Ray threw the strings away and tried to subdue his laugher.

"I'm sorry. I had to do something to break up the monotony around here," he said while trying to breathe again and to stop from laughing. He went near Marvin and helped him up.

"Oh, you're bored now?"

"I'm bored as hell," Billy Ray admitted, "don't take it personal. I'm just a restless guy."

He looked down at his feet for a moment and remembered a time when his heart wasn't feeling restless. One touch from _her_ and he was finally at peace. One of her smiles and he was where he was always meant to be.

But that time was long gone now.

"That's the kind of guy I am," he said with a shrug trying to exile those memories away, "that's why I travel around so much," he admitted but then saw Marvin's caring look and realized he opened way too much.

He scratched the back of his head and turned around.

"I get it from my daddy. He's a traveling salesman. Sold hairbrushes in Kentucky," he said in a rush.

"Thought you said your dad raised hogs in Tennessee," Marvin asked with narrowed eyes, noticing how sometimes Billy Ray's American accent turned somewhat…different. As if it was British or something.

"He raised hogs and he sold hairbrushes," Billy Ray half convincingly half awkwardly said.

"You're all bullshit son," Marvin said and Billy Ray laughed.

"You can't say you never pulled anybody's leg before," Billy Ray told him with a new fit of laughter but before Marvin could answer they heard a horn honking from outside. Someone had pulled in for gas.

"I'll get it," Billy Ray said, took his black raincoat from the hanger and went towards the exit.

However he stopped for a moment and turned around to face Marvin with a sad smile.

"Thank you for that dinner invitation," he said knowing very well that he wouldn't go.

Billy Ray ran outside the shop and approached the car. The rain was cold and relentless and the wind was piercing.

He could not see the driver of the car clearly. The rain was falling with a constant beat over the car's windshield.

He could tell that his customer was a woman though. A blonde woman.

"May I help you, ma'am?"

"Unleaded, please," the woman's sweet voice said once she cracked opened her car's window from the passenger seat side.

Even though the rain was altering the sound of her voice he couldn't help but smile. He didn't know why but he felt lighter somehow at the sound of that woman's voice.

From the open window he could hear a song defeating the sound of the rain that was falling on top of his raincoat's hood.

"Hey, is that WJB on the radio?" he asked as he reached the pump from the gas tank.

"I have no idea," the woman said not paying that much attention to him.

"Yep, that's what it is. That's a '60s station," he said laughing and Caroline blinked.

She could swear she had heart that laughter before!

"I listen to that one all day," the man said excitedly and Caroline moved her head to the other side in an effort to see his face. All she could see was a hooded figure in the rain.

The cold wind that was coming from the open window was battling the heat the air condition was creating in the inside of her car however she felt chills running down her spine. And it was a weird feeling because all of the sudden she was feeling hotter and hotter by the minute.

"I wish I could say something good about the 60's but actually they kinda sucked! Except for the Beatles of course they made it bearable. There was also the walk in the moon thing. Now the 1920's… that was something," the man said and Caroline's eyes widened. She felt as if her heart would burst out of her chest.

* * *

><p><em><strong>11 years ago.<strong>_

_**New Orleans.**_

_._

_._

_Caroline was kissing him senseless which meant that she wanted something. He was not complaining though. Not while she was unbuttoning his shirt and removing his belt._

"_Come on we should go to Rebekah's decade dance!" she asked him between kisses._

_And there it was!_

"_The 60's decade dance you mean," he groaned with distaste and he sighed when she pushed him back and her lips detached from his._

"_Come on that is not that bad," she said with a pout._

"_It is worse. The 60's sucked! Well there were the Beatles yes but if you ask me Bekah could have chosen a better decade…Now the 1920's… that was something," he said with a smirk._

_Caroline laughed and her eyes lit up._

"_Really?" she asked teasingly._

_Klaus laughed and pulled her back to him until she straddled him. He leaned back to the sofa enjoying the way his hands slowly travelled over the curve of her hips._

"_Yes. You would have loved the 1920's Caroline," he said as he wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her to him for another kiss._

"_Would I?" she breathlessly whispered when he started kissing the column of her neck giving extra attention to the sensitive spot just beneath her ear. Something that always drove her crazy._

"_Mmm, the girls were reckless, sexy, fun, they literally used to dance until they dropped," he said with a tempting low voice and turned them over._

"_You don't suppose that ever happened to their dance partners," she mocked him as she wrapped her legs around his waist while he started unbuttoning her shirt._

"_Aren't you hilarious love," he commented dryly while his fingers started outlining the material of her bra on top of her breasts._

_She laughed, her chest heaving, her fingers gently caressing his shaven face._

"_And what exactly makes you the expert on historical decades Klaus?" she asked him with a roll of her eyes before he pushed her shirt all the way down on her arms._

"_Elijah forcing me to make sure Bekah and Kol did their homework in high school," he grunted, his hands playing with the clasp of her bra on her back._

"_Now that would be something I would have paid to see," she said with laughter and he laughed back._

"_It was dreadful. Much like the 60's."_

* * *

><p>It was impossible she thought. This couldn't be happening.<p>

The man put the windscreen wipers to the side and was now trying to sweep the excess of water from her windshield with his cleaning tool and she leaned a little bit over in an attempt to catch a glimpse of his face.

"Want me to check under the hood?" the man offered.

"No. It's rented," she absentmindedly said still watching over her shield.

"You come to Detroit and you rent an Aston Martin?" he asked while leaning over closer to the windshield.

"That's like going to Germany and eating Jimmy Dean sausages," he joked and then their eyes met through the glass.

He froze and she held her breath. Time stopped. She knew those eyes. She knew them all too well.

The man immediately turned away and started talking again.

"In Tennessee, where I was born, I never saw cars like this," he babbled and she could swear that his southern accent was now thicker and more pronounced than before, "I was 22 before I knew foreigners made cars," he said and lowered the hood of his coat more in front of his face.

"Are you from Tennessee?" Caroline asked and she unbuckled her car's belt.

"Yes, ma'am, I'm a Southern boy," Billy Ray said and she could hear some reserve in his tone.

"What's your name?" Caroline suspiciously asked.

"Billy Ray," the man said lowering his hood more.

"Named after both the scoundrels my mama thought might have been my daddy," Billy Ray said almost coughing and he grimaced and almost face palmed.

He noticed that Caroline had now lowered the passenger seat's window more and she was watching curiously at him.

"Is that cash or card, ma'am?" he asked as he leaned over the window opposite to Caroline and put his hand on top of the car and let his arm fall in front of his face to cover it up as much as he could.

"Klaus?" Caroline asked, her expression gentle and full of hope.

"Beg your pardon?" Billy Ray asked trying to look anywhere but her eyes.

Caroline shook her head and gulped down.

"Will MasterCard do?" she asked him.

"It will be just fine," the man said and quickly took her credit card but Caroline huffed and pressed her lips stubbornly.

She got out of the car and ran towards the cash machine where Billy Ray was checking her card.

"You…you remind me of someone a lot," she said and looked at his face. She could not be mistaken. Such similarity was uncanny.

She hadn't seen Klaus for ten years but she would never forget his face. His body, the way he moved, the way he smelled…the way he smiled and laughed. She remembered every little detail. She could never forget.

Everyone told her he was dead. She hadn't seen his blue eyes and his smooth face for all this endless time. She had missed running her fingers through his long wavy dirty blond hair.

The man that was standing next to her now was older; from what she could see underneath his hood he had short hair and he also had a scruff but it was him. It was Klaus.

Those eyes and that laughter. She could not be mistaken. That man was an identical reflection of Klaus.

"I do?" the man asked her clumsily with a thick southern accent.

"Yeah, a boy I knew…A man," she corrected and held her breath, her eyes scanning the man that was standing across her now.

"His name was Niklaus Mikaelson. Everyone called him Klaus. His plane went down in Mexico," she urgently said hoping for the man in front of her to tell her the truth. Or at least to give her a reaction to prove her suspicions. She could not be mistaken.

Maybe her therapist would say that this was an illusion, maybe she need to get some sleep or to get some pills. Maybe it was her great need for Klaus to be alive or simply after all this time she was finally losing her mind but no matter what all she knew was that she was now facing Klaus. She could swear to God this was him.

"Ten years ago," she said with sadness.

The man shrugged.

"I never went to Mexico, but-"

"You laugh like him," she interrupted him, her eyes piercing him. She could never forget that rich sound. It was always making her heart beat faster and made her feel warm and fuzzy inside.

"I am sorry I didn't mean to," the man apologized in an awkward manner as if he was talking to a crazy person and she wanted to hit him on the head with something. If anything that further proved to her that it was him. It was Klaus. She always wanted to hit Klaus on the head!

"You look like him," she said, her gaze never leaving him, determination coloring her voice.

"I don't know what to tell you ma'am," Billy Ray told her stiffly.

"Want to sign that?" he gave her the receipt and she took it. Their hands momentarily touching. He pulled his hand back as if she had electrocuted him. While she signed the papers her eyes never left him.

When Caroline gave him back the receipt he quickly took it and gave her credit card back.

"You have a nice day," he dismissed her and turned around to get back into the shop.

"Billy Ray?" Caroline's persisted and he huffed and turned around taking of his coat.

Caroline's eyes travelled up and down his body. Recognition reflecting in her eyes.

"Ma'am?" he faux politely asked her as if he was in a hurry.

"Do you have a tattoo?" she asked him with a fake smile, her eyes shining.

"Tattoo? No," he immediately said. Maybe a little bit too quickly.

Caroline slowly approached him.

"Your upper left arm. A hummingbird with feathers," she stubbornly insisted.

"I don't have a tattoo," Billy Ray refuted with a negative shake of his head.

Caroline almost stomped down her foot and she folded her hands in front of her chest.

"I'm not leaving till you show me!" she demanded and went and stood right in front of him.

Billy Ray's eyes widened in annoyance. But she wouldn't back down.

"I hope nobody's looking!" he grumbled and pushed his uniform to the side in order to expose his shoulder and upper arm to her, "there! Satisfied?"

Caroline smirked. He was showing her his right arm.

"Left arm," she challenged him.

The man rolled his eyes and did what she told him. He revealed to her a long scar and she blinked.

"I got some shrapnel in Iraq," he informed her, "it goes all the way down my side and ribs. Want to see it?"

Caroline bit her lip and lowered her eyes with regret.

"I'm sorry. My friend would have never been in that war," she said with a soft voice, her eyes in the verge of tears.

"Meaning what?" Billy Ray asked her defensively. His gaze intense now.

"He was very much against killing," she simply said with a sigh.

Caroline then turned around and left as if she was now carrying the weight of the whole world on her shoulders while Klaus watched her walk away from him before he closed his eyes in pain.


	3. Like a fish on a hook

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing

_Edited by **Anastasia Dreams**_

* * *

><p>.<p>

.

**_Chapter 2:_ **

Like a fish on a hook

.

.

.

**California.**

**Department of Justice.**

.

.

The officer was talking into the phone set while typing on her computer. She had been talking with a man for the last 10 minutes. He was persistent and sounded borderline scared.

"I'd like to help you, sir, but Officer Salvatore is retired," she said. "That's not possible! He wouldn't retire without telling me," Klaus protested frustrated from the other side of the line, "he's been handling my case for the last 10 years."

The officer checked her files while keeping Mikaelson on the line. Her eyes widened when she saw who the man actually was.

"Give me your current name and ID, and I'll connect you with your new case officer," she said but met one more refusal.

"With all due respect love, I don't know who the hell you are! If I give you my name and number, you'll know everything about me," Klaus said and he sounded as if he was getting increasingly paranoid by the minute.

The woman sighed.

"Hold, please," she said and put him on hold.

"No, hang on. Damn it! Hello?" Klaus yelled from the other side of the line and swore when he realized that the officer had put him on hold.

* * *

><p><strong>California. <strong>

**FBI Quarters.**

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.

Alaric Saltzman was just getting out of the elevator when his cell phone rang.

"Excuse me," he said to the feds he was accompanying.

"Yes April," Alaric answered when he noticed the identity of his caller.

"That call you've been waiting for sir?" the girl said and Alaric froze, "he's on the line," she told him and he hurriedly started walking towards his office.

"He won't give me his current name or location. He wants Stefan Salvatore," April informed him before he connected his call with Klaus Mikaelson.

"Klaus? How you doing?" he immediately said with his most friendly and casual tone, "this is Alaric Saltzman. Remember me? I set you up at that photo lab in Cleveland," he told him while he opened the door of his office and went it, "Was it 2007? No, 2008!" he recalled as if he was just now remembering it clearly.

"I don't remember you," Klaus said, his voice suspicious.

"You know us FBI guys all look alike," Alaric joked and opened his computer.

"You are one rolling stone, aren't you?" he asked Klaus as he entered the FBI's witness relocation program and got into Klaus' file and noticed all the different locations he had been and all the identities he had had over the past years, "where are you now, Klaus?" he asked in a strict professional tone. Stefan Salvatore had hidden Mikaelson's last address even from the database.

"Where's Stefan?" Klaus asked urgently. "Why did he retire? He would have told me he was retiring!" he insisted. "Why didn't he do that?"

"Well," Alaric said, trying to stall somewhat, "putting aside his unprofessional personal attachment to your case, which you out of all people must already know where it was coming from, the simple reason is that Stefan retired for having certain health issues," Alaric said to Klaus. He grimaced wishing he could detect Klaus's phone call and pin his location but he didn't want to make this case known to the department right now.

"Why didn't he tell me that?" came Klaus' persistent tone that annoyed Alaric.

"To tell you the truth Klaus, he lost you," Alaric confessed.

"He lost me?" Klaus incredulously asked.

"Yeah," Alaric admitted somewhat uncomfortably. "That's why we put him out to pasture, why I'm on the case," he clarified.

"Why..why did he?…Where is he? Where did he retire to?" Klaus asked again, "Come on! Where did he retire to? Uhm…look…he once gave me a number. His old place in Mystic Falls. He used to go there on vacations. Is that where he is? Am I getting warm?" Klaus insisted with a tired voice.

"He's out of the picture Klaus!" Alaric said in a final tone while starting to sweat, "Now what is it? Are you in some kind of trouble?" he gently asked and heard Klaus ironically laughing from the other side of the line.

"No. Not at all," Klaus's irony reached his ears, "where's Damon?" Mikaelson asked breathlessly.

"Still safely in jail as far as I know. Nothing to worry about. He's never getting out!" Alaric promised even though his screen was showing that Damon Salvatore had been released on parole.

"His partner?" Klaus continued with his questions.

"Marcel?" Alaric asked.

"Yeah."

"Unless he's made another pass at you...he's probably got his drug money and he is living the good life in South America. We have no idea where he is."

"That's a relief," Klaus said relaxing a bit.

"So what is it? Relocation time?" Alaric inquired.

For some time there was no sound coming from Klaus before the man finally relented.

"I guess. Where can you put me?"

"Where are you now? And what name are you using?" Alaric asked but received no answer.

"Come on buddy, I'm just trying to do my job!" he pressed Klaus with urgency.

"Bowers Billy Ray," Klaus said with a low voice, "I live above Marvin's Motown Motors, 1840 Canoga, Detroit" he said and Alaric smiled victoriously and wrote down the information.

"Did you get that? I'm not repeating it," Klaus snapped, "Somebody recognized me. I want to get out before they come back!" he said irritably.

"Right. Two days," Alaric simply said as he saved the information Klaus gave him along with the rest of the Mikaelson file to his usb stick.

"Two days?" Klaus asked as if this was killing him.

"Yes two days. Hang on and we'll have somebody come in and get you," Alaric promised.

"Okay, I'll be hanging," Klaus sounded defeated and ended the phone call.

Alaric smiled and then erased Klaus's file from the FBI database.

* * *

><p><strong>Detroit.<strong>

.

.

…_The drop in foreign sales...reflects both the negative effect of the strengthening dollar...and an upsurge in competitive production in China and Asia…_

Caroline Forbes was in that boring board meeting for the last two hours. She was watching the rain hitting the glass windows of the conference room on the top floor of the skyscraper the law firm she was collaborating with was located.

…_Add this to the recent surcharge imposed by the EEC nations...it's clear that to preserve the profit our shareholders expect...we have to make cuts to our production costs..._

Caroline watched around the members of the board meeting and noticed that all of them were watching carefully at what the CEO of the firm was saying.

She bit her lower lip and she carefully took her purse in her hands and placed it on her lap. She slowly opened it and took out her wallet. She opened it and carefully took out the old photos of her and Klaus she was always carrying with her.

She smiled tenderly at the way they looked. They had taken them at one of New Orleans' fun fairs. At a photo booth.

Her smile grew wider as she watched for the millionth time those photos. The way Klaus was hugging her. Kissing her. The funny faces. The laughing features.

In some of the photos there was also Kol who used to sneak up on them in the booth.

Memories evaded her mind. Painful memories. Beautiful memories. Nothing could compare with those memories.

She remembered how she and Klaus didn't get along at first. How he kept flirting with her endlessly before she finally gave in. She remembered with tenderness that her first date with Klaus was at a fun fair.

She could still remember every moment as if it was happening now and not twelve years ago. She remembered how they had gone into the roller coaster and how she had screamed and had closed her eyes scared while Klaus hugged her from behind and whispered to her ear that she was safe. She still remembered how she had opened her eyes then and laughed. The cold air was hitting her face but Klaus's warmth was enveloping her as the ride of the roller coaster was getting faster and wilder but she couldn't remember any time before in her life that she had felt safer.

The one memory kept coming after the other. She remembered skin on skin, lips on lips. She remembered his scent, his hands. The way he was holding her. How he was teasing her. How they made love to each other. Tender moments and wild ones.

She remembered their first kiss under the same Ferris wheel in which he had asked her out. She could still feel how she had melted in his arms in the first kiss that she had initiated much to Klaus' delight.

She still remembered how he had actually asked her out on a date for the first time and how he had scared the yes out of her.

* * *

><p><em><strong>12 years ago. <strong>_

_**New Orleans.**_

_._

_._

_She could not believe her eyes. She was joking with him. Of course she would go out with him! _

_But Klaus had swayed out of their moving cabin and climbed to the top of the wheel. She had screamed and tried to stop him but he simply ignored her and reached the ledge on the top. She could swear she was going to faint. _

_She could see that he was barely keeping his balance. He was walking against the direction the wheel was turning, his hands stretched into the air as if the moron was casting himself for the Titanic movie. The only thing was that if he were to fly he would fall crashing down the ground and die!_

_He was crazy! He was insane!_

_The cabin of the wheel she was in with Kol was reaching towards Klaus now and she pushed herself half out and reached for him. She looked down for a moment. Damn they were high!_

"_Klaus get down from there!" she screamed at him._

"_Nik get down!" Kol yelled also, even though he mumbled how amazing this was, causing her screams to become angrier._

"_You are freaking me out!" Caroline screamed again at Klaus, her hair falling in front of her face. Her heart was beating faster with worry as she hung half of her body outside the cabin more in an attempt to convince him to come back into his seat._

"_Will you go out with me Caroline?" Klaus yelled at her again._

"_Yes!" she screamed back and even like this she couldn't help it. _

_She smiled._

* * *

><p>"All those opposed?"<p>

"If Miss Forbes will respond?"

"Miss Forbes!"

Caroline jumped startled as the voice of the president took her out of her reverie. She got so lost in memory that she hadn't paid any attention to the voting.

She gulped and tried to regroup herself. She straightened her back and noticed that all the board members where now intently looking at her waiting for her answer.

What was the question now? What was she supposed to say?

"Yes!" she said and noticed how some people watched her with widened eyes. "No!" she tried to correct herself somewhat uncertain of what she was saying no to.

"You are abstaining from the final vote?" a stockholder asked her and she nodded still looking a little bit confused while confusing all the others also.

"Yes," she then pressed her lips and shook her head, "No, I am not," she clarified and cleared her throat.

"I see," the man awkwardly said.

* * *

><p>Inside the workshop Klaus, known to Marvin as Billy Ray, was cleaning up for the night. It was already past midnight and Klaus was still working on a car exhaust while Marvin was closing the financial books.<p>

"She says to me, 'Marvin, you're not getting any younger,'" Marvin said imitating his wife's shrill voice making Klaus laugh, "think about that young man working for you, and offer him a partnership," he concluded and Klaus turned around and watched Marvin with wide eyes.

"We don't have any sons," Marvin said and shrugged in a way that showed to Klaus that this was not an idea that was only in his wife's mind but also in his.

"You ain't known me but three months. How do you know you can trust me to stick around or not steal from you?" Klaus asked, his expression confused and honest.

"I got my eyes on you," Marvin said to Klaus with a knowing look.

"The hand is quicker than the eye," Klaus mocked and Marvin laughed and waved his hand at Klaus jokingly.

The old man got up and pointed towards the stairs that led to the apartments above the workshop.

"I'm going upstairs to get some sleep," Marvin said with a yawn.

"See you in the morning," Klaus told him and then Marvin approached him and looked at him seriously.

"Think about that partnership," he proposed and Klaus laughed.

"I'll see you in the morning," Klaus said instead.

"That means it's a deal?" Marvin insisted and Klaus shook his hand with a laugh at the old man's persistence.

"I sure will think about it," he promised his boss knowing all too well that in a few days he wouldn't be here.

"Goodnight," Marvin said and went to the stairs.

Klaus shook his head and went towards the car he was fixing. He opened the hood and started working on some cables. He wondered what his next job would be like.

It was too bad. He really liked it here. Marvin was a neat guy.

But he could not risk it. Aside from the fact that once he was made it was the protocol to change his identity and to get relocated he also knew Caroline. She wouldn't let it go. Her persistence and stubbornness were traits that made her into the woman she was. The woman he admired and still loved. He wished for things to have been different. He hated the fact that he had to pretend not to know her when the only thing he wanted was to take her in his arms and never let her go.

When he saw her today, again after all this time, he swore his heart was going to give out.

Sometimes he wondered if time was enough. If time would make his heart forget but Caroline was a ghost in his soul. He couldn't let her go. The more time passed the more his heart craved her. The more he missed her. That ache in his soul would not go away and today when he saw those green eyes of hers again he could swear that he came back to the land of the living.

It was as if all these years he wasn't living. He didn't even exist. He was stuck in a limbo of lives that didn't belong to him. Seeing Caroline was his ticket back to life. And she looked more beautiful than ever. She looked magnificent but she wasn't his. His life should have been different. His life should have been a life filled with Caroline's love but now he was not Klaus. He was Billy Ray today and another stranger tomorrow. A stranger with a hole in his heart that would miss Caroline for all the days that would follow.

He was so lost in thought that hadn't noticed the two cars that had parked outside the workshop.

The one was Caroline's Aston Martin. She had been parked outside the shop for the last hour stalking him from afar with her small binoculars.

The other one was a black BMW.

The doors of the black vehicle opened and two men stepped out. Klaus couldn't see their faces clearly from the place he was working. The hood of the car was casting a shadow in front of him and the nightlights of the workshop were not bright enough to illuminate the faces of the men that stood next to the fuel pumps outside of the shop.

"Pumps are closed," Klaus shouted at them but they didn't leave.

"Pumps are closed," he repeated. "We don't open again till 6:30a.m," he said.

"You Billy Ray Bowers?" the one man asked and that drew Klaus's attention.

He stood up, took a cloth and wiped his hands. He didn't know if those were the feds so he had to ask.

"Y'all from Saltzman's office?" he asked without dropping his Southern accent and then the one man approached with slow steps until his body slowly left the shadows and his face was now clear to Klaus.

"Y'all got an interesting accent," the familiar voice mocked using a fake Southern accent too.

"Shit," Klaus whispered.

They found him.

After ten years he was standing once again against Damon Salvatore.


	4. Like a drunk in a midnight choir

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing

_Edited by **Anastasia Dreams**_

* * *

><p>.<p>

.

**_Chapter 3:_ **

Like a drunk in a midnight choir

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.

.

Klaus cautiously took some steps back. It wasn't long before he faced the barrel of Damon's gun. Blood run cold in his veins.

He checked around to see if there was something he could use to defend himself. He had to gain some time.

"You always were a good actor, weren't you, Klaus?" Damon's irony echoed inside the workshop. "You pretended to be my friend."

"I never was your friend mate," Klaus said carefully but with a cold voice remembering how it was Stefan that became his friend in the end and not the Salvatore that was standing across from him pointing his gun to his head right now.

"Then you turned on me," Damon continued as if Klaus's hadn't spoken, "you uncovered my identity to my brother. You ruined my life!" His hands wrapped around the handle of the gun tighter.

Klaus pursed his lips and took some steps back.

"I never agreed to help you kill," he reminded the black haired Salvatore trying to keep his own impulses at bay.

Damon laughed but there was no joy or humor in that sound. "Please! Since when did you became a do-gooder?" he taunted as he kept targeting him with the gun. "Remember Klaus, you were the one that taught me and Marcel some of our greatest tricks."

Klaus grimaced.

"Talking about Marcel…he is quite worried about you, you know," Damon said with a seemingly innocent tone but his eyes turned into ice. "I've served my time, thanks to you, but he's still under indictment. Seeing as you're the only living witness that can put him behind bars."

Klaus narrowed his eyes while he kept backtracking.

"What's he got on you? You are what now? His flunky? Have you really fallen that far from grace?" he accused Damon in hopes to distract him.

"You are one to talk! Who do you think you are Klaus? Some hero?" Damon mocked him and then pointed towards the shop with his gun. "Hiding in a grease pit for 10 years? Trying to forget your past sins."

Klaus held his breath when Damon pointed his gun back at him once more.

"I don't think they'll put up any monuments for you," Damon told him with a sarcastic smirk "any last words?"

Klaus straightened his back and stopped moving. If he was going to die he would die standing against his enemy with no fear. It was of no use. He had run for so long. Now he was found and it was time to stop running. This was the end of the line.

He only hoped to have had one more chance to look at Caroline's eyes before he would die.

Klaus breathed in and almost smiled realizing that he was lucky after all. In his last day on the earth he got the chance to see Caroline again. To hear her voice, to see her eyes. He only regretted not being able to tell her the truth. To hold and kiss her again.

_To have a life with her._

He noticed Damon's finger slightly pushing the trigger and waited for the bullet to pierce his skin when the abrupt and loud sound of a car horn startled both him and his enemy.

Klaus snapped out of it faster and swiftly kicked Damon's hand. The gun went off and the fired bullet went straight through the garage buttons on the panel that controlled the rolling door and the gate of the workshop started coming down again.

Klaus kept fighting with Damon when a familiar voice reached his ears.

"What's going on?" Marvin yelled. The old man slowly getting down the stairs. Obviously all the commotion had attracted his attention.

"Get out of here! Run for your damn life!" Klaus yelled to Marvin as he fought Damon back.

The gun fell to the floor with a clatter and Damon swore.

Klaus punched Damon back and immediately pushed one of the levers behind him that supported the elevated cars he was supposed to fix in the next days.

The car fell with a deafening noise between him and Damon giving Klaus's the chance to shield himself. He fell on his knees and rushed towards the other car he was fixing earlier. He turned around only for a moment and saw that Damon was struggling on the ground while throwing curses and threats.

Klaus yelled to Marvin to go back and take cover as he himself crawled into the car.

One of the chains attached to the bars underneath the other car had wrapped around Damon's leg and had thrown the dark haired man on the greasy floor.

Klaus turned the ignition on. The car wasn't starting!

"Come on sweetheart I just fixed you!" he growled and then decided to hotwire the car. Once, twice he played with the wires before finally the humming noise of the engine could be heard; Klaus sat back, pushed his foot on the gas and put the car in reverse.

Shots could be heard from outside the workshop. Someone was shooting the metallic garage door.

Marvin started running up the stairs but then Damon managed to untangle himself from the chain and grabbed his gun again. He shot Marvin on the chest and the old man fell on the stairs and tumbled down; Klaus closed his eyes in pain as he ran the car towards the exit gate. Damon just managed to jump out of the way as Klaus took down the garage door with his car. Fortunately the heavy door fell inside the workshop and trapped Damon.

Damon pushed half of his body to the side, the door still holding him captive inside the shop but he nonetheless started shooting Klaus's car and Klaus realized that shots were coming from elsewhere too.

He looked at his rear view mirror.

Marcel! He was outside the shop and was shooting at him too.

Klaus pushed himself to the wheel and barely covered his head with his hands as the bullets flew inches above his skull and the glass from the windshield shattered all over him.

He lost control of the car and the car curved on the side before it crashed over the gas pumps just outside the shop.

Gasoline burst out everywhere and Klaus barely had the chance to jump out before the car exploded.

The force of the explosion sent both him and Marcel flying meters away.

The night turned into day as the roaring fire started licking all the gasoline it could found and one explosion after the other went off.

Klaus was breathless and he shook his head before he heard the sound of a car horn. The same horn that startled him when Damon was aiming him with the gun.

Through the blur of his vision he saw a blue convertible Aston Martin parked on the other side of the road. He had seen that car before!

The driver was honking and Klaus noticed that Caroline was there all this time. She had seen everything. She had tried to protect him.

"Watch out!" Caroline yelled and Klaus curled on the ground as he heard more gunshots. A wounded Marcel was trying to protect himself from the flames that were spreading everywhere even as he kept shooting at him.

Klaus on all fours tried to move to the side and run. He could barely get up while Marcel was now standing and shooting at him.

Klaus plummeted to the side of the road when he felt the burn of the bullet and he fell on the pavement bleeding.

Marcel now took certain steps towards him and reloaded his gun.

Klaus somehow managed to get up and tried to run. He felt himself limping and time was moving slowly making him feel helpless against Marcel. He saw the rifle pointed at him but from the corner of his eye he also saw the blur of Caroline's car.

Caroline was stepping on the gas and she was driving her car straight to Marcel.

The man just had the time to bounce to his left just before Caroline hit him with her car.

Then Caroline turned the car around and drove towards the road while Marcel was trying to recover and find his gun.

Klaus jumped in front of her car and started gesturing wildly for her to slow down.

"Let me in will you!" he yelled at her and Caroline slowed down but didn't unlock the door.

Klaus was limping and jumping on each side, his leg numbing and his whole body hurting as if it was set on fire. Bullets not ricocheted against the metal of the car barely missing him. Damon and Marcel were shooting at him and the car.

"Klaus, is that you?" she shouted at him, fear evident her voice.

"Yeah, it's me! Let me in!" Klaus urged as he kept pulling on the handle of the car's locked door, barely keeping up even with the vehicle's slow speed. The only thing that kept him going was the adrenaline and fear that was pumping in his veins.

"How do I know it's you?" Caroline doubted him. Her eyes full of panic.

"It's me, _sweetheart_," he cooed, "Open the bloody door!" he huffed at her this time using his own accent.

Caroline's eyes widened at the use of the nickname he had used and instinctively she unlocked the door of the car letting him in.

Klaus bounced inside the car and barely had the time to close the door before Caroline sped away.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he growled at her as he kept twitching over his seat.

"Me? What the hell are _you_ doing here?" Caroline yelled at him, an incredulous look in her eyes as she kept watching him like she was watching a ghost.

"Being shot in the ass," Klaus mumbled irritably as he rubbed his bleeding thigh with his hand.

Damn those bastards! They had shot him in his bloody ass!

* * *

><p>Damon approached Marcel and both of them stood outside the workshop. Damon dusted his clothes and watched the building surrendering to the fire that was erasing all their traces. Both him and Marcel made sure of that.<p>

Explosions could be heard from the inside of the car shop as the smoke and the fire spread.

"She saw you," Damon cautioned with a dark voice.

Marcel nodded as he brought the face of the blonde woman that saved Klaus in his mind.

"I saw her, too."

* * *

><p><strong>Four Seasons Hotel<strong>

.

.

Caroline was pacing back and forth outside the bathroom. She had thrown her shoes away and took off her jacket. She was now left only in her silk blouse and her black pencil skirt.

She was biting her nails anxiously and she could hear the shower running.

She could not believe it! Klaus was alive! Some crazy people were chasing him and shooting him and she got caught right in the middle.

She started mumbling incoherent words that made no sense even to her ears. Her anxiety was forming imaginary hands wrapped around her neck, suffocating her.

In less than a day, Klaus came back from the dead and shootings and explosions followed. Typical!

She stood still and she stopped chewing on her nails. Now she wanted to pull her hair instead.

Dear Lord Klaus was back!

She wanted to scream or faint or both! She could not handle this! How was this even possible?

She heard his voice and she went closer to the door. She realized that he was talking to the phone from inside the bathroom. He had indeed asked when they arrived in her suite if he could take a bath and use her phone.

She stomped her foot down. She should have left him on the road and not given him shelter and her phone!

But this was Klaus. She could not just walk away and leave him helpless.

"I don't care if they've left for the day," she heard him yelling through the door. The falling water was distorting his voice somewhat but as usual he was growling some of his commands so she could still hear him clearly.

She frowned realized that this was not "as usual". As usual for Klaus right now would be to be a ghost!

How was he alive?

"I've got to get through to them." she heard him now say with an impatient tone.

"...555-7000. Yes. The presidential suite. Operator? Operator! God!" he all but screamed and she realized that whoever was on the other side of the line must have hung up on him. Well that served him right! She then heard him curse and mutter all sort of profanities and she smiled realizing that his temper was still the same. Yes, this was definitely Klaus Mikaelson, indeed.

She took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Klaus?"

"What?" she heard him ask through the closed door.

She leaned over the door and exhaled. This was so surreal.

"Are you all right?" she asked him and hated the fact that she still cared.

"I've been shot in the ass! Can you believe it?" he mumbled with annoyance and she bit her lip in order to not chuckle.

"Can I come in?" she asked and hid her smile.

"I'm naked. Can you handle it?" he challenged her and she rolled her eyes.

"I've handled it before. I guess I can handle it now," she irritably spat and swiftly opened the door and got in the lavish bathroom.

The steam from the shower immediately enveloped her and the first thing she saw was the water that was falling with pressure against Klaus's back.

The doors of the shower were made of dark glass that reached as high as his chest. She could definitely see the figure of his body from his chest and down outlined behind the fogged glass and she felt her mouth going dry.

"It's my lower back and my ass," he grumbled without turning to look at her. He casually ran his hands over his head sloshing the excess of hot soapy water away from his hair. He then twisted his neck around and looked down to inspect his ass and she bit her lip angrily. What she was feeling was not attraction!

It was anger. Pure and hot.

She wanted to smack him! If it was up to her his shot ass would be the least of his problems!

Oh yeah wait! It was up to her!

She turned around ignoring him and she took down the toilet cover lid and sat down on the soft cushion that covered it. She crossed her legs and folded her arms in front of her chest.

Klaus was still swearing and mumbling about his ass.

"I think the pellet passed through-"

"Iraq?" she interrupted him with a raised eyebrow.

Klaus turned around and looked at her surprised at first but then it dawned at him and he looked at the scar over his shoulder where his old tattoo should have been.

"Hell, no. I took the hummingbird off with a sander," he casually informed her like nothing had transpired between them and a bitter smile adorned her lips.

Oh God he hadn't changed! He was still the same insensitive dimwit!

"I really am anxious to hear this story," she dared him with a hard voice.

Klaus ignored her though and she hissed underneath her breath.

"I need some bandages, antibiotic and some antiseptic," he told her with a knowing tone.

"Get shot often?" she probed.

"Only twice before," he said with a shrug and jumped inside of the shower a bit restlessly in pain when the hot water touched his wound again.

"Could you please help me love?" he asked her and turned around to look at his ass again, "Could you look at my butt?" he urged absently and Caroline had half a mind to go help him by kicking his ass!

"You left me at the altar!" she blurted out with hard eyes and Klaus sighed and looked straight at her with something that seemed a guilty expression.

Caroline laughed bitterly at that and continued, "That was my state of mind at the time." She kept going with a calm voice, "you went off with Kol to seek your fortune or whatever other crap came to your psychotic thing you have for a brain...and then you were coming back to marry me."

She got up from her seat and moved closer to him.

"Am I remembering this correctly Klaus?" she inquired with the tone she normally used against some witnesses in the courtroom and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Because If I am not please correct me," she pressed and noticed how he lowered his head.

She started pacing back and forth again.

"You get lost in your plane. Reported missing, presumed dead," she continued as memories kept assaulting her. She still remembered how her heart stopped when she learned that he was missing and how then it broke when she believed he was dead. She still remembered the pain.

She turned around and looked at him with fierce anger consuming her.

"I attend your memorial service, and cried the tears of a grieving widow!" she dramatically accused him, her voice breaking.

"I vowed I'd never get over you. In fact, I never did!" she yelled at him and saw him grimacing, "I still carry your damn pictures in my wallet!" she shouted and him and he pursed his lips. He turned around and closed the water.

"Until one day, I pull into a gas station, and you're alive with people chasing you and you ask me to look at your butt?" she incredulously yelled at him feeling as if she was in the verge of hysteria.

"That's kind of neat. Klaus' alive and he's shot in the ass!" she screamed and started walking back and forth mumbling under her breath again phrases and words that made no sense.

"Guess who's alive and shot in the ass?" she yelled again gesturing wildly with her hands while Klaus raised his eyes looking at her going back and forth and he crossed his hands over the shower door and leaned over with a smirk.

"Klaus! I'm looking at his ass now!" she cried with fury and turned around to face him.

"You lying...gutless...son of a...no good for nothing, toad, coward…brigand...I….I" she mewled with a trembling voice and she fisted her palms. He raised an eyebrow at her as if he was curious to see where she was going with this.

"I can't think of enough awful things to say about you…you!... you bastard!" she hollered, her eyes full of tears of pure undiluted anger.

"I guess that's a no on examining my ass then," he simply asked riling her up more.

"UGH!" she shrieked and he smiled at her when the phone next to the shower rang.

"I'll get it. It's probably for me!" he rushed but he wasn't fast enough as Caroline had run over and took the phone just before he could get it and slapped his hand in the process. He swore under his breath and held his hand in pain. Too bad she hadn't used her nails too! Next time!

"You can't answer my phone," she indignantly told him, raising her chin in defiance when she answered the phone.

"Hello?" she asked and flipped her hair to the side, causing Klaus to roll his eyes.

"Yes. Fine," she said with a calm voice now. "Just taking a shower," she said with a low voice that indicated that this was a private phone call. In the mean time, however, she looked at Klaus's wet naked body and blushed and averted her eyes.

"I'm coming home tomorrow," she whispered in hushed tones and help the phone closer to her lips feeling Klaus's eyes following her movements. "Okay. Bye."

"Same guy?" Klaus asked with a dark voice as he reached over and took a towel.

"What guy?" she shyly asked him.

He started drying himself with the towel in harsh movements. "Tyler Lockwood" he spat with venom as if the name was a curse. "Rich jock asshole," he grunted and then looked at her intently and she gulped nervously.

"The one you married," he reminded her seriously causing her heart to jump a beat.

"You remember him?" she asked him with uncertainty.

She frowned at him realizing that he knew all along. He knew about her life. Her life after him.

"You know I got married," she consciously said and it came out more as a statement than a question.

"Yeah. Four months after I disappeared," he bitterly said as he wrapped the towel around his waist and hopped out of the shower.

"That's pretty quick work for a grieving widow," he mocked her as he approached her with a limp.

"Where were you Klaus?" she gently inquired this time. Her voice soft and somewhat insecure. What created an ache in her heart was that now that he was standing in front of her like this it was as if not even one day has passed. Every emotion between them was still there, unscathed and raw.

But ten years had passed. And that hurt more.

"You could have waited to find out," he sarcastically told her and she pouted.

"I was lonely," she sulked and she boringly looked at her nails trying to convince herself that she didn't care for what he thought.

"You were lonely," he mocked imitating her girly voice. "So you married the joke of the town!" he yelled at her now. "Tyler fucking Lockwood! The King of blood money! How could you do that?" he blamed her with a sullen look and she could tell that just underneath the surface he was boiling with anger.

Good! He deserves it! She petulantly thought with a twinge of regret that she buried deep inside.

"We had it wrong. His family made laundry detergent," she defended herself and Klaus rolled his eyes. "Seriously! They made kitchen cleansers," she told him and he gave her a bitter mocking smile.

"Don't kid yourself," he reprimanded as he stood just in front of her. "They were getting rich off people's misery. Every war has been their blessing. They were selling illegal guns," he said dismissively and then moved around her and walked outside the bathroom.

"Illegal? Like the things you were doing?" she provoked him. "Was that was going on once again or were you too gutless to tell me you didn't want to marry me?" she accused him but got no answer.

She hastily followed him inside the half lit bedroom and saw how he went and sat on the king sized bed and winced from pain. He looked as if their dispute had drained him.

She frowned when she realized that he looked pale and that he was blinking as if he was dizzy.

"Are you all right?" she asked him worriedly.

Klaus slowly nodded but it seemed weak to her.

"Yeah. I just feel a little woozy," he muttered and closed his eyes. He looked exhausted.

"I better call the doctor," Caroline told him and went for the room's phone but Klaus opened his eyes at once and tried to get up from the bed to stop her.

"No doctors!" he insisted but Caroline was already dialing and gesturing him to sit down. Her eyes reassuring him somewhat.

"Is this the front desk? Is there a pharmacy?" she asked and noticed how Klaus relaxed and climbed over the bed. He shuffled with the pillows and lay down on his stomach.

"Please send up gauze pads to the presidential suite; some tape and hydrogen peroxide. Yes. Thank you," she said and hung up the phone.

She immediately went to the bed and sat next to Klaus. Her eyes roamed over his half naked form. His back was bare and he was only covered with the towel.

She bit her lip and immediately shook her head. There was no time for such thoughts!

"All right. What's going on?" she pressured him with a strict voice. Her curiosity reaching its peak.

"Was that a holdup or is someone chasing you?" she pressed once more with urgency.

She cared! Damn him she cared!

"Got any kids sweetheart?" he murmured and Caroline blinked in surprise because that was the last thing she expected him to ask her.

"No. Why?" she asked him with a trembling voice.

"It's just you've got that 'Mom' tone," he uttered with a gentle voice that seemed to be fading.

"I'm a lawyer. I have that lawyer tone," she told him with a smile but she couldn't see the proud smile that formed on his lips at her statement.

"I can help you," she ensured him in hopes that he would open up.

She gently moved closer to him and she lowered her voice more.

"Will you talk to me?" she asked him with a sweet voice, her need to help him overwhelming her.

She heard him sigh and she felt the need to lie next to him and snuggle closer. To hold him close.

"Tomorrow," he mumbled his answer with a tired voice. "I'll talk to you tomorrow," he sleepily promised her with a weak whisper; his eyelids dropping almost against his will.

Caroline noticed how his breath slowed down. Klaus was letting go and soon enough his even breath and the way the muscles of his back relaxed told her that he had fallen fast asleep.

She couldn't help herself. She let her hand wonder just above his body. She outlined the shape of his spine and of his toned muscles without actually touching him, but she wanted to.

Then as if her hand has a will of its own it slowly and gently dropped to his head and she caressed his wet hair. Her fingers threading the curls she had so missed. She remembered another time when she would sink her fingers in that hair and hold on for dear life while they would make love.

She closed her eyes and retracted her hand as if that caress along with the memory had burned her.

She released a shaky breath and with careful movements she got up and tenderly covered his lower body with the sheet.

She took some steps back and went to other side of the room. She crossed her hands in front of her chest and her eyes could not leave the sight of him. The room was barely lit and no other sound could be heard aside from his soft breathing. It was then that she realized that this wasn't a dream.

Klaus was there. For real. He was back. In her life. In her bed. Sleeping.

Alive… He was alive.

"Oh my God! Klaus Mikaelson is alive," she whispered with awe.

And for the first time after ten whole years the weight she seemed to carry on her shoulders was lifted and she could finally breathe again.


	5. Like a worm on a hook

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing

_Edited by **Anastasia Dreams**_

* * *

><p>.<p>

.

**_Chapter 4:_ **

Like a worm on a hook

.

.

.

Inside the burnt car workshop, police officers and firemen were trying to salvage any clues that would lead them to those responsible for the destruction. Policemen took notes as they inspected the crime scene. While the firemen kept working inside the smoke and burned wreckage.

"How's it going?" one of the firemen asked a detective, "any idea who did this?"

"Maybe," the officer said. "I got a phone tip from an eyewitness; they said there was shooting and a blue Aston Martin racing away with a man and woman in it," he told the man in the yellow suit.

"Detective you better see this!" one of the forensics called out.

The detective walked further inside the shop and looked carefully at the sight in front of him. Yes, this was officially a murder scene. The dead body of man was over the staircase. Thankfully the fire hadn't reached that part of the workshop and the body was not charred.

The man was lying over the stairs, with multiple shots to the abdomen and his back and rigid, cold fingers were still holding a paint can.

The detective narrowed his eyes.

It was as if the dead man named his killer with his last breath.

"We definitely have a suspect." He said as he wrote down on his pad the name the victim had written on the stairs with a spray can that was usually used for painting cars.

Over the stairs with yellow paint there was written one name.

_Billy Ray._

* * *

><p><strong>Four Seasons Hotel<strong>

.

.

The angry voice that reached her ears slowly dissolved the remnants of her sleep.

Caroline blinked and stirred and opened her eyes realizing it was morning.

She stretched on the couch a bit and focused on the male voice that woke her up. She sighed when she remembered what had happened just a day before.

Klaus was alive. He was on the run and he had slept in her bed upstairs while she slept on the couch in the suite's living room.

She sat up and groggily rubbed her eyes.

Klaus was yelling on the phone now and that caught her attention more. He had promised to tell her what was going on today and she had waited long enough. In addition, her curiosity was killing her.

Caroline got up and took the long, chiffon robe she had put on the sofa last night. She hurriedly wore it over her somewhat see-through babydoll and covered herself. She purposely tightly tied the robe's belt around her waist.

She shook her head as she remembered that modesty was never an issue between her and Klaus in the past but that was a long time ago.

Caroline walked up the stairs and getting closer to his voice, she tried to calm herself down. Klaus would tell her what was going on, she would give him her advice as a lawyer and then she would send him on his way.

She didn't need this. She had her own life to think of. Caroline had a good life and Klaus was not part of it anymore. He had been alive for all these years and had left her behind. She should do the same.

Caroline went into the bedroom and saw Klaus talking into the phone. The sheet had dropped down his waist, revealing his naked chest and in broad daylight she noticed the changes that had happened to his body over the last ten years. He still looked hot, though; she bit her lip, mentally scolding herself over the thoughts she was having and focused on his phone call. Whoever was on the other side of the line was infuriating Klaus.

"I have a right to be rude," Klaus yelled. "I left a message for him. I waited for it and-"

Caroline grimaced when she saw him punching the headboard of the bed in anger. He then laughed bitterly.

"Hell, I want to talk to one of his supervisors!" Klaus growled on the handset and then tried to control himself from lashing out. "I'll tell you what to do! Try it by name. Try Bowers," he said urgently!

She then exhaled sharply at the way he was acting. He was obviously distressed and looked like he was ready to hit his head on a wall or something.

"Billy Ray Bowers," Klaus said and some moments later she saw him blanching.

"No record of a Billy Ray Bowers?" he asked, his voice deadly quiet now.

He sat on the edge of the bed and ran his hand through his messy hair. Whatever he was hearing from the other side of the phone could not be good because drops of sweat started developing on his forehead. Wrinkles of thought appearing between his eyebrows when he frowned.

"Try Jean-Pierre Fouret," he insisted with impatience.

It looked as if each moment passing was critical to him.

"Turnbull, Jodie…Carlson, Matthew," he kept on trying different names.

Some moments later Klaus closed his eyes in defeat.

"Try Mikaelson, Niklaus," he then eagerly asked.

"Klaus Mikaelson," he said once more with such urgency as if his life depended on it.

"See if anybody by that name exists," he whispered with worry but in the end the phone call ended and he was left watching the phone with despair.

He raised his eyes at her and the stormy blue of his gaze set her heart on fire. He looked so desperate and lost that the invisible cord that connected her heart with his was getting uncomfortably tugged.

"Something's gone wrong," he whispered as he put the phone down. "I don't seem to exist anymore," he said with a trembling voice.

As she opened her mouth to say something she heard the doorbell ringing.

Klaus immediately jumped and started getting dressed.

"Expecting someone?" he asked with panic and she rolled her eyes at him.

"I have a standing order for breakfast at 7:00 am," she informed him and turned around with every intention to get downstairs to get her breakfast.

However Klaus was acting like a crazy person. He put on his uniform, the one he wore last day when he introduced himself as Billy Ray. The uniform was torn, dirty and had blood stains on it but he didn't seem to mind or even notice.

What he seemed to be doing was limping all around and moving as if he was pumped with adrenaline.

"What time is it?" he pressed her, his voice reaching a higher level.

She sighed and looked at him as if he had gone insane.

Caroline glanced at her wristwatch and shrugged at him.

"6:48," she told him and turned around, heading for the stairs.

"You got a gun?" he hastily asked her and her eyes widened.

"Don't be ridiculous Klaus!"

Klaus started looking around as if he was searching for a weapon to use.

"Of course you don't have a gun!" he cursed and looked at her as if she was nuts for not carrying a weapon with her.

Boy ten years was all it took in the end! He had gone mad!

"You got _any_ kind of weapon?" he incredulously asked her as he took one vase in his hand, testing it like he was defending himself from an imaginary enemy before he put it on the side.

She waved off his craziness and started climbing down the stairs.

"No. It's my breakfast," she insisted dismissively but before she could take another step, Klaus rushed past her to look at the glass doors that lead to the terrace. Since this was the top floor and it happened to be the presidential suite the floor to ceiling windows lead to the private terrace of the hotel that had its own garden and pool. Above the terrace there was the hotel's rooftop.

Klaus was looking outside, his eyes sharp, and the wheels of his mind turning.

"Caroline, get dressed!" he ordered her and took her by her hand and pushed her up the stairs again.

She struggled against his hold, but he wasn't letting her go.

"Get dressed fast, please!" he pled with her and pushed her up while he went to the glass doors that led to the terrace and inspected the surroundings.

"Yeah, we can make it!" he said with confidence and Caroline blinked confused.

"What do you mean "'we" she inquired with a tone that was telling him that she thought he was out of his freaking mind.

Klaus raised his eyebrows pointing towards the glass windows, suggesting to her with his gestures that he meant for them to escape from there.

When Caroline realized what he meant, her eyes widened in fear.

"I'm not going out there!" she shrieked and turned around and started walking down the stairs again, while the doorbell of the suite rang once more.

Klaus run after her and raised his eyes to the ceiling as if he was trying to be patient with her stubbornness.

"Four attempts have been made on my life," he rationalized as he grabbed her elbow and stopped her from going to the door. She had already reached the living room, "If you open that door, you could end up dead!" he cautioned. His voice held a warning that would scare every sane person.

Caroline sighed and comfortingly put her hand over his.

"Listen to me. We are at the top of a veritable fortress," she told him and he rolled his eyes.

"Yes!" she insisted. "Presidents, oil sheiks stay here. Friends of important, as in _really important_ people, stay here," she continued, but Klaus's gaze was showing that he did not care that much for what she was saying, nor did he believe that they were safe. And he didn't. Not by a long shot.

"Beyonce stays here!" she then added and Klaus raised his eyebrows impressed.

"Really?"

"Yes! Because it has the best security money can buy. Don't be paranoid," she scolded him with a voice that meant to soothe him and show him how irrational he was being.

"I hate to be a nag, Caroline, but paranoid keeps me alive!" he insisted, but Caroline huffed and moved towards the door before Klaus stopped her once more.

"This guy comes every morning. Trust me!" she tiredly told him once more and then a voice could be heard from outside the door.

"Got your breakfast, Miss Forbes."

"What did you order?" Klaus frantically asked her and Caroline titled her head and looked at him impatiently.

"What did you order?" he vigorously insisted and Caroline exhaled loudly.

"I ordered...grapefruit, croissant-"

She then stopped and Klaus narrowed his eyes and grabbed her wrist.

"And what?" he pressed and saw her blushing.

"_Strawberries_," she whispered and looked first at their intertwined hands and then straight at his eyes.

* * *

><p><em><strong>11 years ago<strong>_

_**New Orleans**_

_._

_._

_They both got into her apartment and she shivered. They were soaking wet from the pouring rain. Of course, the one and only time Klaus would try to be a romantic and get her out for a picnic, one of the worst storms of all time would fall down on them._

"_Well, at least the strawberries were nice," she said and Klaus laughed and took off his wet leather jacket before he removed hers too._

"_But you know that it is champagne that goes with strawberries and not beer right?" she laughed at him as she recalled the combination he had chosen for their dinner under the stars._

_Klaus looked at her with eyes that shone with mischief._

"_What? Beer is bubbly too," he innocently said and they both burst out laughing._

_Klaus pulled her closer and leaned into her. He hid his face in the crook of her neck, her wet hair falling over his head._

_She wrapped her hands around his waist bringing him closer, none of them paying any attention at the pool of water that was forming on the wooden floor since they were both dripping._

"_Let us take a warm shower love," he tenderly told her as he peppered her neck with soft kisses, "you are going to catch a cold if you stay like this."_

_She laughed when he hoisted her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist._

"_You just need an excuse to get me naked again," she mockingly complained while he was walking them towards her bathroom._

_Once they were in, he gently put her down and cupped her face._

"_Do I need an excuse Caroline?" he asked her. His gaze intent and her wet skin turned hot._

_She shook her head and somehow blushed at the way he was looking at her._

_He smiled at her and gently pulled her wet blouse and pushed it over her head. His eyes roamed over the wet skin that was revealed to him, his fingers tracing over the straps of her bra, before pulling them down._

_She started undressing him too. Slowly, without any rush. Both of them enjoying the moment._

_Once they were both naked, they went into her shower and stood underneath the hot water._

_Caroline ran her hands over his chest and pressed herself against his body. She leaned her head over his shoulder enjoying the feeling of his body grinding against her own underneath the hot water._

_He softly caressed her arms and when she tilted her head up, she saw so much emotion in his eyes that her breath was caught inside her chest._

_He abruptly crashed his mouth over hers. This time the kiss was different. It was less passionate, less fierce than usual. It was slow, and sweet and full of unspoken longing. It melted her lips into a kiss that stopped time. She moaned as his hot tongue played with hers languidly and when he pushed her over the tiles she let her hands wander over his hair, her fingers curling taking hold of his wet curls._

"_You taste like strawberries my love," he whispered in her ear when his mouth let go of her mouth and travelled to her neck and then…lower._

* * *

><p>Klaus gulped and let go of her hand immediately. Caroline rubbed her hand and silently looked at him. He returned her gaze and time stopped for a moment but then Klaus broke the moment when he fearfully looked at the door.<p>

"Ask him what he's got," he insisted and Caroline shook her head, her eyes telling him this was ridiculous.

"Go on, ask him. Bet he can't tell you!" he persisted, his whole body tense.

"What's for breakfast?" he asked the man that brought her breakfast.

"Some kind of breads and fruits," the waiter outside the door called.

Caroline raised her eyes at Klaus and mouthed at him a 'I told you so' before she started walking towards the door. However Klaus stood at the stairs, anxiously gripping the railing.

"I'll be right there," he told her and she rolled her eyes once more.

"Klaus, pull up a chair, sit down," she scolded him in a motherly tone. "I'll share my grapefruit even," she kindly proposed, knowing all too well how much he hated grapefruit. "And then you can tell me all about this," she said with finality and without mentioning the strawberries again.

When she reached the door Klaus stopped her once more.

"Don't take the chain off the door," he warned and she tilted her head in exasperation.

"Rattle it like you'll take it off!" he instructed, "make him think you'll take it off!"

Caroline's lips twisted in a mocking grimace.

"You mean like this? Is that good?" she asked him in hushed conspiracy tones while she moved back and forth the security chain of the door without actually taking it off.

Klaus eagerly nodded and then let out a frustrated growl when he realized that she was making fun of him.

"Yeah. It's funny to you!" he grumbled and Caroline rolled her eyes pushing the door open.

Before she could say anything else, a hand violently sneaked through the opening of the door grabbing her from the neck and pulling her closed to the door with an incredible force.

"Oh, God!" Caroline yelled and gripped the hand that was wrapped around her neck. She tried to release herself from that crushing hold but she couldn't. The only thing stopping the man that had his hand curled around her from entering was the chain, but that wasn't stopping him from choking her while banging her body over the door.

She couldn't breathe. Her ribs were about to break, her neck was going to snap and her head kept crashing on the door so violently that she could swear it would crack open.

Everything was happening too fast. She barely noticed that Klaus has rushed next to her in the very same second that hand broke through the door and he was trying to set her free.

Klaus was holding that man's hand from the wrist, while he threw all his weight on the door and the man that held her by the neck released her as the door crashed into his hand.

Caroline fell on the floor and coughed. She was trying to breathe and soothe her bruised neck.

Klaus was trying to close the door but the man that had choked her had put his foot in the opening and Klaus could not shut the door.

Caroline got up and tried to close the door too. She could tell that outside it there were at least two men that kept trying to get into the room. Probably the same men that had shot Klaus and her yesterday.

"Get the pepper spray!" she yelled at Klaus as she pushed her own weight over the door.

"You get it!" Klaus yelled back at her and pushed the door with all of his strength and sneezed when her unruly hair got in his nose.

"The spray! The spray!" she yelled in panic and ran towards the couch where she put her purse.

She then noticed that a black-sleeved hand had managed to sneak through the opening of the door again and was now punching Klaus in the face. Klaus was trying to shove the hand back and close the door. She also saw that these men were trying to break the chain with pliers!

Klaus could now barely keep the door from opening. They had managed to cut the chain! They were getting in!

Caroline was so scared that she dropped her bag on the floor with all its contents spilling out but the spray was nowhere to be found.

This was not good she thought Klaus could hardly keep those men out now. In a matter of seconds they would enter the suite and then all hell would break loose!

"Hurry up!" Klaus yelled as he pushed all his weight on the door again and again but the door wouldn't close. These men were coming in!

This was bad! Really, really bad!


End file.
